It would seem like a game that started off with back-to-back White Sox hitters drilling Orioles starter Wade Miley with whistling line drives has the potential for offensive success. Miley getting struck by multiple baseballs forced him to leave the game with a left wrist contusion in the first inning, which would only further suggest the Sox bats were primed for a big day. And when Miley was replaced by longman Gabriel Ynoa, who owned a 6.65 ERA in Triple-A in his only pitching so far in 2017, the Sox seemed primed for a feast.

But baseball is a funny game, even if it’s frequently laughing at you more than it’s making you laugh, and the Orioles beat the Sox 4-2 behind pure dominance from Ynoa — their Ynoa, not Michael Ynoa – -who cut through every big bat in the Sox lineup in a crucial RBI situation when he needed to.

Helicoptered into a two-on, two-out situation in the first inning after Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia both left their marks on Miley, Ynoa got Matt Davidson to pop out. He got Avisail to roll over one weakly to strand Abreu after his two-out double to the wall in the third, and he got Abreu to chase a slider in the dirt to strand Tim Anderson on third just two innings later. The emergency fill-in handed the Orioles six scoreless innings so easily that it was surprising to look back on his line and see that he had even allowed five hits.

Miguel Gonzalez, on the other hand, looked like a man largely having a far worse night than 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball would suggest. He labored through a 31-pitch first inning after Anderson misjudged his role on a Seth Smith grounder into the shift, and cut off Tyler Saladino’s direct path to the ball. A walk to Chris Davis and a single from Mark Trumbo loaded the bases, and meant that Gonzalez nicking Jonathan Schoop with a pitch was the difference in the game. At least it was the difference until Davis blasted an opposite-field solo shot in the third.

A leadoff walk to Melky Cabrera and Abreu’s third hit of the night gave the Sox runners on the corners with no one out in the eighth, but an Avisail RBI groundout was all they squeezed out of it. A defensive gaffe-ridden bottom half of the inning behind Dan Jennings and Michael Ynoa plated two runs for the Orioles and quickly made the mini-rally irrelevant. It also made a mini two-hit rally and RBI groundout from Cabrera in the ninth equally irrelevant.

The good

— Gonzalez looked like he was on a night of bad command at the outset, and certainly has had days with better movement on his stuff and more swings and misses. But he battled back after a rough first three innings to take the game into the seventh, and didn’t issue any free passes after his rough first inning. His ERA is down to 3.18.

— Willy Garcia prevented two runs from scoring with massive throws from right field. Throwing arms are kind of like hood ornaments when it comes to assessing overall outfield defense, but it was cool stuff.

— The surging Abreu and the slumping Anderson combined for five hits, but with a rocketed double to the left field wall and a bullet single off Miley’s pitching hand, Abreu held a monopoly on hard contact.

— Still no one can hit Anthony Swarzak. Four baserunners allowed in 46 batters faced.

Not quite as good

— Between Anderson cutting in front of Saladino in the first, muffing a J.J. Hardy hot shot to push across another Orioles insurance run in the eighth, and Cody Asche whiffing on a Trumbo grounder down the third base line to help start the eighth-inning rally, infield defense burned the Sox very acutely.

— Ynoa certainly didn’t get much help, but he and Jennings both were knocked around in an eighth-inning situation they might not even be in if the White Sox weren’t down two relievers.

— Davidson went 0-for-3, popped out to spoil a first-inning chance, stared at a fastball in the zone for his only strikeout, mishandled a dribbler at third, and got pinch-hit for by Yolmer Sanchez during a manger-off between Rick Renteria and Buck Showalter in the eighth inning as the Sox tried to avoid a righty-righty matchup with Darren O’Day.

Takeaways

The White Sox had 12 hits, so this is probably not the night to rail against their offensive shortcomings, and maybe Jennings and Ynoa keep looking adequate if not dominant with some sharp plays behind them. But if we’re looking for any hole that could sink this surprisingly buoyant ship, a new struggle to keep every game razor close without their five-man group of dominant relievers would certainly count. It was a preciously short amount of time that they had this ability, but they’re already missing it.

Notables

— This was Gonzalez’s first game back in Camden Yards since getting released out of spring training last year.

— Todd Frazier missed his second-straight game after being scratched with back stiffness before Thursday’s game.

Looking ahead

The city of Baltimore’s wild love affair with Saturday night games continues, as the second date of the three-game set will set off at 6:05 p.m. CT. It’s a matchup of Dylans of varying prospect acclaim, as Dylan Covey will look to build off the longest outing of his young career against Dylan Bundy.

James Fegan is the lead writer on the White Sox for The Athletic Chicago. Previously, James founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of BP South Side, and his work has appeared in Baseball Prospectus, ESPN SweetSpot, The Rock River Times and Athlete's Quarterly. Follow James on Twitter @JRFegan.